At the beginning of this month, Jayson Tatum agreed to a five-year, $315M supermax deal with the Boston Celtics, reports the NBA. With Tatum coming off of a NBA Championship, his new contract marks the largest all encompassing salary for any NBA player in history.
With all of that money coming in, you’d think the five-time All Star has big plans for ways to spend his earnings. Well instead, in agreement with his mother, Brandy Cole, Tatum won’t touch any of it.
He calls his mother the “overseer” of all of his finances. In an interview, Cole said “I’m the one that processes all the wires and gets receipts and then ensures everything.” Apparently, in a deal between the mother-son duo, Tatum only lives off of endorsements and sponsors— and never off his salary.
“We had a deal before I got drafted that I couldn’t spend the money I make from the Celtics [and] that we have to live off endorsements,” Tatum said in an In Depth with Graham Bensinger interview. According to Tatum, both his mother and his accountant agreed on this deal and haven’t looked back since.
The power forward has reportedly earned a near $13 million outside of his past or current contracts with the Celtics, which the former Duke University player says is more than enough for him to live off. With deals with Jordan, Subway, NBA 2K, and Gatorade, its clear that Tatum is doing just fine.
According to his mom, Tatum, like any athlete, enjoys spending money and living his best life. The difference between him and other players, Cole says, is that her son has a “different level of appreciation” for his wealth.
Even though the 26-year-old gives most of the financial planning credit to his mom, Cole said her son’s determination to be better than what he comes from is his clear motivating factor. “I think, for the most part, just we’re not that far removed from living check to check, and he [Tatum] knows what he never wants to go back to,” Cole said.
Tatum’s new contract breaks a record previously set by his teammate Jaylen Brown’s $285 salary. If Tatum continues on this route, he could become a billionaire by the time he retires from the league.